


A Funeral Shroud of Tulle

by OnceABlueMoon



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, LGBTQ Themes, Nonbinary Character, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 10:49:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17765384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnceABlueMoon/pseuds/OnceABlueMoon
Summary: The thing people rarely remember about Enma was that his sister had been his twin. In which the Simon children raise themselves after the massacre, do a lot of damage to each other, and love each other anyway.





	A Funeral Shroud of Tulle

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [KHR_Rare_Pair_Week_Vday_Mini_Event_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/KHR_Rare_Pair_Week_Vday_Mini_Event_2019) collection. 



> Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn
> 
> This was written for the KHR Rarepairweek Vday mini-event 2019, for 13 february with the prompt ''Backup Twin''

Kozato Chinatsu considered herself to be a very lucky woman, and it had a lot to do with her children. Since the minute they’d been born, she hadn’t stopped smiling, every day a ray of light. The twins were her treasure, with the island as a grand treasure chest. It was paradise.

She counted herself a very lucky lady, and the day she died she found out why.

Because her luck would run out before her time.

(She died trying to block the door to her son’s bedroom).

* * *

Entering the main house was hard- Adel had waited for nightfall before even attempting to leave her hiding place. She’d waited until the screams died down. She’d waited hours upon hours for someone to get her, but nobody came and she _needed to confirm it was not because there was nobody left._ She refused to believe that. She _could not allow herself to believe that._

That did not make it easier to leave her hiding place. The fear of encountering the slaughterer of her people was ever present in her shaking body, but she strode forward. She could not stand still- if she stood still, she would die before their killer would even reach her. She would perish, falling to her knees, dying slowly of grief, and she c _ould not stand still, could not let that happen._

She needed to find survivors. Having someone else to care for should distract her enough.

So. The main house.

She did not know what had been harder- walking past their corpses, or listening to their screams while being unable to do a thing about it, hiding in a closet, in the dark, praying to God nobody would find her.

She averted her eyes from Kozato-san when she came to Enma’s bedroom- it was okay. It was alright. Kozato-san might be dead, but surely, s _urely_ she’d have protected Enma. Kozato Chinatsu had loved the fiercest out of every person Adel knew, and her cold corpse could not mean anything, because death would not stop a love as fierce as that.

Adel had to believe that.

(Adel was lying through her teeth)

* * *

The corpse was small, the corpse was redheaded, and it still clutched the twin’s stuffed rabbit to its chest, even in death. The soft, worn white fabric was drenched in rusty red- blood beginning to dry.

Adel’s heart stopped.

Of course, she found out it was Mami later, but at the time she couldn’t bring herself to look at the mutilated body of her best friend.  
  
All she could think when she saw him, alive and well, was "Thank god it was Mami."  
  
It was ugly but true. She’d been so grateful he was alive.  
  
Perhaps that was were the difference in attitude after the massacre came from- whereas Adel thought "Thank god it was Mami,", Enma thought "Why was it Mami? Why not me?"  
  
And drowned in his own apparent uselessness, rid of his precious twin.

(The beginning of the end)

* * *

Adel was ten and she had no idea what to do, but she did know they had to leave the island. They didn't have the manpower to bury the corpses of their family, and even if they did, she was pretty sure they wouldn't have been able to take doing it anyway. They had to leave the island, the corpses unburied, trauma rampant.

Julie was the one who stopped them from going immediately. He was eleven, the eldest, and even though he never had a leading bone in his body, he knew about stuff. Like the fact that if they went out there, they'd be put in the system.

“We won't last a day out there- seven kids living alone _will_ be noticed. On the other hand... Seven kids and a slightly absentee guardian? It'll attract attention, but it could work.”

Adel sized him up. “...Who are you going to impersonate?”

Julie grimaced. “The person with the most money on the island. Kozato Makoto.”

Enma, to say the least, did not take it well.

* * *

Seeing his dead father’s face was far from Enma’s biggest problems, though it was a painful one. Honestly, most of the time he couldn’t look in the mirror. Mami’s face was staring back at him. He saw her grow up there, along with him, until his jaw was wide, his shoulders broad, and stubble encroached on his cheeks.  
  
Then he couldn’t pretend it was her anymore.

(It broke him a little)

* * *

Sometimes, it was like Enma had died instead of Mami. At first, it was subtle. Enma’s countenance became fiercer, more like the leader he’d never really been to them. Adel thought it was a result of the slaughter of their family- but soon it became clear it was _not._

Not at all, really. Because Enma’s hair was growing out. First past his chin. Then his shoulders. Then his waist. Long, red hair, tumbling down his back, wavy curls framing his face. This was the second sign.

The third, however, was unmistakable. The long skirts, the dresses. The plastic cherries on the elastics he used to do his hair. They’d been Mami’s favourite when she was still alive.

That was what did it. The realization struck her like a lightning bolt, leaving charred skin, burned hair and the stench of ozone behind. 

The fierce attitude, the hair, the clothing, the way he _talked to them even._ Everything was modelled after his sister. It was like Kozato Enma had disappeared into the mists of time, obscured under the ghost of his sister. Adel felt like throwing up.

She didn’t know what to do.

(She never did)

* * *

Life went on. They went to school. They ate. They survived. And slowly, very slowly, they healed. Enma did not stop pretending to be Mami, and while uncomfortable with it, nobody spoke up about it. Not until it got worse.

Enma was approaching thirteen now and hitting his first growth spurt. He shot up in height, his jaw was widening, becoming squarer, and his shoulders were becoming broader. The dresses could not hide it. He bought frillier ones anyway.

It was when she saw plastic surgery sites in his internet history that Adel snapped.

"Enma, Mami's the dead one. _She_ was buried. Not you. _Not you!"_ Adel picked up the scissors and grabbed his hair harshly- long strands of blood red hair falling to the ground as if shedding the hair would make Mami's funeral shroud fall off Enma's shoulders.  
  
Enma's shaking, and Adel had no idea what she was doing- for all she might know she just caused even _more_ trauma- but... Adel has had no idea what she had been doing since she was ten and fished her friend from the ashes left of their village. Since she took them from among the corpses.  
  
So she says the only thing that kept her going at that time: "Even if you feel like you're being buried alive, rescue the others from the same fate before you let them suffocate you forever."  
  
He listened.  
  
It was like Mami died all over again, and all that was left is a crying boy in a frilly pink skirt, red hair choppy, unevenly cut. Short.  
  
It was hard, but it was a beginning. It was grieving Mami all over again, it was Enma figuring out how to be _Enma_ instead of Mami. It was a lot of things.  
  
Enma was not the leader Mami-Enma was, but Adel believed in him. He would make it.  
  
(Enma never grew his hair out again).

* * *

The Enma before Tsuna wore black hoodies and jeans. The Enma before Tsuna was bullied terribly. The Enma before Tsuna was so filled with grief and rage, every single thing brought up to the surface again. The Enma before Tsuna attacked.

The Enma with Tsuna was still sad. He still got bullied. He still didn’t know who he was, but by now he’s realized that would probably be something he’ll chase after his whole life. The task of a lifetime, finding out who one is. But the Enma with Tsuna also has friends; People not as easily dragged into the rage and the desperation and the grit of their nightmares. He is less angry, happier, and he wears flowy lavender blouses that make him soft and sweet but do not hide his broad shoulders in any way. His hair is short, the memory of being Mami-Enma forever haunting him, as if growing his hair out again would tempt him into falling back into old bad habits.

The Enma with Tsuna made Adel question herself a lot. Both the actions she had taken in the years before, as well that one disastrous conversation that may have helped him for the better, but had most likely damaged him terribly as well. There are misunderstandings to be cleared up, and Adel won’t let corpses lie unburied (and believe her, she has buried far too many).

The Enma with Tsuna is the one Adel goes to talk to.

‘'...You know I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to be a girl, right? It’s just being Mami that I had a problem with. Because you’re Enma. You’re Enma and I love you for _you,_ however you want to be.’'

Enma looked up, hands caressing the grass they were seated upon softly, and the expression on his face so gentle, so sweet, that Adel could not help but hold her heart, breathless. ‘'I don’t think I’m a girl, Adel. I don’t really think I’m a boy either. I’m just... Enma.’'

A smile crept up on Adel’s face as she took his hand, laying back into the grass and enjoying the warm afternoon sun. ‘'That’s enough, Enma. That’s _more_ than enough.’'


End file.
